Nobody Knows
by 13AnimePrincess13
Summary: Sakura's mom got remarried and is expecting twins. That's great, right? Then why does Sakura avoid staying home? What's with her and her step dad? Will she be able to open up or will everything stay bottled inside? Warning: Rape - not graphic
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Hey! This is a fanfic I've been thinking about writing for like forever. I dunno, lately I've been really into the whole real-life drama stuff. I'm kinda borrowing Laurie Halse Anderson's writing style. Plus, this was inspired by her book Speak (which is an awesome book, by the way.) Still, it's not going to be the same, in case you're wondering. Yeah, I know I talk too much. Hope you like it! Please keep mean comments to yourself.

Nobody Knows

Chapter 1

No one seemed to be able to wait for winter break. It was all they talked about since December began: where they'd go, what they were buying for others, who they went shopping with, whose party they were going to. It wasn't any different for my friends.

Ino, my self-proclaimed BFFL, wouldn't shut up even during class.

"You have _got _to come over some time!" she told me. "Ooh!" My ears rang from her squeal. "I can't wait to show you my new dress! I just bought it yesterday, and it is gorgeous! Once you get a peak at it, I swear you're so going to regret not going shopping with me!"

Her glossed lips were stretched into the happiest grin I'd ever seen from her. It seemed as though Ino was so full of excitement that her skin was barely able to contain it, stretching tighttighttight, threatening to tear open and release her feelings to the room.

If that happened, maybe I'd be able to be happy for the holidays too. Maybe raindrops are actually gummy bears and Kakashi-sensei was actually the earliest to class today.

"My parents are throwing a Christmas party this Sunday," she went on. "The only people who are coming are a bunch of middle-aged friends from when they were in school like a century ago. Can you please come, Sakura? Please! I'm going to be all alone there! Well, I guess a few parents are going to drag their kids along, but I don't know any of them and they're probably toddlers anyway. They said it's alright if I invited you because they know you, and you know anyone who knows you knows what a goody two-shoes you are – no offense. They won't let me invite anyone besides you, though, so Tenten and Hinata won't be there. But you've got to come because you know you love me and–"

"Ino, chill out," I ordered. "I'll go. In fact, I'd be happy to go. What time?"

Her blue eyes flew open like I was crazy for accepting the invitation she'd beg me to take. After a pause, she shrieked and tackled me in a hug that squeezed all of the oxygen out of my lungs. "Thank you! I love you _so _much!" When she let go, I saw a smudge of eyeliner on my jacket in the place her eyes had been.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I said tiredly.

XXX

Mom was reluctant to let me go to Ino's party.

"You're barely in the house at all these days, honey," she said as she took three sizzling hot pockets out of the microwave, careful not to touch them directly. Her stomach still looked the same as always: flat. You'd never guess that a pair of babies was busy developing in there. "I've been hoping we could eat together during the weekend, you know, act more like a family."

If she really wanted a family then she should (dump the Horse/take me and run away/get back together with dad so I can smile again) try a family therapy session. I heard they worked well.

"We can always do that later," I said, hoping to whoever was listening that we wouldn't. "Christmas parties only come once a year."

I could see her considering this.

"I'll help you shop next weekend, too," I added. "I promise."

Her eyes brightened. Christmas shopping was one of her favorite things to do, especially when I went with her. Ever since sixth grade, though, I'd been reluctant to go. This had disappointed her big time, so hearing me say what I had was like a magic spell.

"Alright, then," she agreed. "Why don't you bring something for the party? Maybe some cookies or eggnog; Mr. Yamanaka just _loves_ eggnog. How about a Christmas cake? We could bake it together! We haven't done for years!"

I smiled at mom's enthusiasm. At least one of us was happy.

Sunday seemed to come too quickly and too slowly all at once. Mom and I decided to go with the eggnog and cake idea. We spent most of Sunday morning baking together in the kitchen. Occasionally, mom would run out of the room rather unceremoniously to throw up. What did they call that again? Noon sickness?

The cake was a masterpiece mom and I had put together from scratch, no Betty Crocker Baking Mix involved. The sponge cake came out nicely. We made a coffee frosting with a heavenly fragrance, spreading it all around and inside the cake. After that, we topped it with lame looking dollops of whipped cream and strawberries. In our enthusiasm, we left the "Christmas" part out of the Christmas cake, but that didn't matter. It smelled amazing, even if it didn't look it.

"I think we did a good job," I said, looking at the cake appreciatively.

"A good job?" mom snorted. "Sakura, when they get a whiff of this, their heads are going to explode."

I laughed. It felt like the first genuine one I'd had for an eternity. The sound died in my throat when a voice from the doorway said, "What do we have here?"

_Go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away leave me alone just go away please-_

He didn't go away. He strolled right through and wrapped his arms around my mom's waist lovingly as if he cared. She giggled like a girl with her first crush.

_Please. Just. Disappear._

"Sakura and I made a cake for the Yamanakas party tonight. Doesn't it smell great?" Her smile was so bright I had to look away, afraid the light would burn away my eyeballs. I felt his eyes for a brief second.

My chest tightened, my lungs were draining, my hands were sweating, and my teeth were grinding together. My heart slammed against my ribs, shattering them and letting the leftovers fall into my feet. The room was gone, the cake was gone, and all I could see or smell or hear or taste or feel was a nightmare that wouldn't release its iron grip on my mind. I was breaking and hurting and dying and screaming and bursting from the inside and nobody could tell.

"_Sakura," he whispered into my ear._

_I cringed, tried to curl into a ball, but he didn't want that. I was trapped in a position of helplessness, fighting against a brick wall. _

"_Stay still and listen to me."_

_I froze at the unspoken threat hanging in the air around us._

_"Be a good girl and keep quiet." His voice was sweet venom that would kill the second it entered a vein. "This is our little secret. You're not going to tell anybody, right? I don't want anybody to know about this."_

As he said, nobody knew.

**AN:** I know it's short. ^^' For now I'm just trying to get a feel of things, I guess. Anyway, please comment! :D I looooooooove comments! XD (no flames, please)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Alright, next chapter is here! I know I posted this fast, but if I wait to add chapters I normally end up just not writing them at all. Please comment for this chapter, too!

Thanks to you guys who commented last time! To:

**ImaginationAngel**: You're making me blush! lol X3

**Emmy03**: Great minds think alike. ^.~ lol

**nayomixsaga**: Trust me, I do too^^

**Mira94**: Thanks! :) And this is a High school story

**gilmaxter**: Thanks for the wisdom^^

I'm so greatful for the comments, guys! You're so nice~! X3

Disclaimer: (I forgot about it in the last chapter^^') I don't own any Naruto characters or anything from Naruto. I still love Naruto though~! I _do_ own the Horse (unfortunately -.-') and the other OC's.

Nobody Knows

Chapter 2

Ino tackled me in a bear hug when she opened the door for me.

"Sakura!" she squealed. "You look so pretty!" She stepped back to examine me more thoroughly, nodding in approval.

I, on the other hand, didn't approve. Not one eensy-weensy little bit.

Mom had taken one look at what I planned to wear to the party and ordered me to strip. At my "What the heck are you thinking, lady?"-look, she said exasperatedly, "You can't honestly think I'd let you go to a party wearing _that_." She jabbed a finger in the general direction of my clothes: blue jeans that barely stayed around my waist, my dad's old football jersey that was more dress than shirt, and a huge baggy jacket that ate my whole body up.

She picked out one of her old dresses, an unrevealing black dress from her high school days, and told me to wear it or forget about going to that party. Reluctantly, I'd put it on. She went ballistic with joy, offering to put on some make up, which I refused.

Ino asked, "How do you like my dress?" She posed. "Aren't I gorgeous?"

Personally, I was surprised her parents let her out of her bedroom looking like that. I didn't say so however and just told her yes, she looked amazing.

It turned out that I was the first guest to arrive. Ino dragged me up to her bedroom; there we talked casually about the world and Christmas and blah-blah-blah until her dad told us to come down to greet the other guests.

That was when I handed over the eggnog and cake Ino hadn't given me enough time to give her parents.

"Oh my god!" her mom said when she lifted the lid of the Christmas cake's container. "Did you make this? You didn't have to go through all that trouble, sweetie."

I smiled. "No, I wanted to. Thanks for letting me come to your party."

Mr. Yamanaka thanked me enthusiastically with a genuine smile (mom was right about the eggnog) and Mrs. Yamanaka hugged me with the arm that wasn't holding the Tupperware.

They were distracted when the doorbell rang again. They opened the door for an old couple dressed in black formal attire. After them came a bundle of middle aged men and women, then Mr. Yamanaka's parents and Mrs. Yamanaka's father. As Ino had predicted, a trio of toddlers came along with their single mother. A few aunts and uncles came too, bringing cousins and one small baby. They all seemed to know each other, treating everyone as if they were their long time best friend.

Mrs. Yamanaka bent down next to me and whispered, "Sweetie, you don't have to hang around here. You and Ino should go eat some desserts while there's still some left." With a wink, she added, "I don't think it'll last too long once there aren't any more guests to welcome, if you get what I mean." She nodded in Mr. Yamanaka's direction.

I smiled and nodded.

We both entered the dining room and filled our plates. Ino piled up high on the veggies and salad, leaving only puny amounts of room for anything high in calories. I ate almost nothing but desserts. I didn't mind if I got fat. Actually, things might be better that way. With my metabolism, though, it seemed unlikely.

The living room was stuffed with people sitting on the floor, relaxing with a glass of wine on a sofa, perching on the arm of a chair, flirting in a corner. The kitchen was just as bad (if not worse). It was crowded to the point that even Ino's Scottie Whisky had trouble navigating through. We ended up back upstairs in her room, listening to the muffled murmur of gossiping adults through the walls and the barely audible CD playing Christmas carols in the furthest part of the background.

After less than five minutes, Ino was ready to snore from boredom.

"C'mon, let's go party with a bunch of old people!" she said. She was out the door and dashing down the stairs before I could even get up to follow. By the time I was on the first floor, she'd disappeared into the mass of relatives and family friends.

I rolled my eyes. She'd begged me to come so she could have company and ditched me barely after the party started. Sometimes it was hard to figure out why we ended up as friends in the first place.

I decided to look for her. I hardly knew anyone here and to be honest I wasn't exactly anxious to join in on a conversation about sex or politics. I hardly knew who was in charge these days, much less cared.

Most of the guests had congregated in the kitchen. The inside was a build up of living towers filled with chocolate and alcohol, talking to one another using their highest windows in too-loud voices. Suddenly an arm encircled my shoulders. I jumped a bit, startled.

"Sakura," Mr. Yamanaka screamed into my ear. His face was a giant tomato: round, red, and shiny.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me, Mr. Yamanaka," I told him.

His laugh nearly busted my eardrums. "Sorry about that! I just wanted to let you know that I invited your parents over."

My stomach leaped into my throat and shot down to my knees, then back and again. I felt my heart beat rise as invisible pillows suffocated it from all sides, thrashing and flailing in a useless effort to break free.

"Oh." I tried to sound like a normal human being would at a party. It was hard.

Luckily Mr. Yamanaka had too much alcohol to notice small differences like that, especially in a crowd so much louder than me. "Yeah," he said, "I thought it wouldn't be fair to leave them out with you here. Anyway, we've known your mom for years, and we've met your step dad a couple of times. Daichi's a great guy. With a man like him, I know I don't have to worry about you two."

I only managed a grimace. Smiling was unthinkable at the moment.

He noticed. "Well, I'm sure it's hard on you, sweet pea," he frowned. "I could never imagine going through my parents divorcing like yours did. You're a strong girl."

Every word was a spear thrown into my chest. Every sentence gave me the urge to shout and yell and throw my Christmas cake at his face and holler in his ear that he was blind, that he'd better tell the Horse he wasn't welcome here. I wanted to tell Mr. Yamanaka that he should tell that _thing_ to go work in a coal mine, get blown to smithereens in a gas explosion, or be crushed under a thousand boulders and stabbed by a hundred stalagmites when the mine caved in on him and him alone. I wanted to cry and tell the whole everyone the truth – the _real_ truth. I wanted to tell them what had happened, what was happening, what would happen _again and again and again and again and again and_–

The doorbell rang.

"Must be them!" Mr. Yamanaka gave my shoulders one last squeeze before pushing through the crowd.

I had to get away.

Thoughts raced through my mind at the speed of Ino at the mall. My best bet was upstairs. Hardly anyone seemed to go there, so the Horse coming up there was unlikely. I couldn't go though. The stairs were right in front of the front entrance. There was no way I could go up without being noticed. He would see me. He would excuse himself from a conversation and slip to the second floor and find me and–

"Thanks for joining us! This way, Suki, Daichi," Mr. Yamanaka's voice couldn't have been more than seven feet away. Under the cover of the crowd, I weaved through and into the living room. It was deserted now. I sprinted to the oak wood side table that was almost completely blocked from view by a loveseat and ducked under.

I listened hard, trying to slow my rough breathing. Not a second later I recognized the Horse's voice mingling among the mixture of sounds and carols resounding through the house. I was another piece of furniture, unable to move on my own, hearing every word spoken without gaining any notice.

Mr. Y: "Do you want something to drink? We have Champaign, wine, beer, eggnog – thanks for the eggnog, by the way."

Mom: "You're so welcome. But I think I'll take a rain check on the drinks. I shouldn't, you know, with the kids and everything. Thanks though."

Mr. Y: "That's right! You're having twins! Jesus, I nearly forgot. You don't look a bit different than normal, Suki. How are they coming along? Know the genders yet?"

The Horse: "Yes. Both of them are girls."

Mr. Y, guffawing: "Looks like you're in a pinch. Stuck in a house with only a bunch of girls? How the hell are you going to survive?"

Mom: Pointed cough.

Mr. Y, hastily: "No offense, Suki."

Shattering blasted my ears away from the voices I'd been eavesdropping on and into the kitchen, where someone (sounded like an old man to me) was yelling. Another voice, even louder, apologized at the top of its extraordinary lung capacity. Someone entered the living room and flopped down on the sofa, muttering. I refocused my ears. It took a while but I finally locked in on them. Their voices were quieter, drowned by the bustle in the kitchen. I could only just make them out.

"...don't worry about it, Jiraiya," Mr. Yamanaka said. "I'm just glad no one got hurt."

"Honestly," the man called Jiraiya paused. I guessed he was sighing. "You're too forgiving sometimes."

The Horse interjected before any more apologies or not at all/it's fine/no big deals could be said.

"Sakura is here, isn't she? I haven't seen her around."

My heart must have stopped beating right then.

"She's probably with Ino," Mr. Yamanaka said.

"Ino's in her room," Mrs. Yamanaka said disapprovingly. "It looks like she decided to have a few drinks while we weren't looking. I found her sleeping on a chair in the dining room with an _empty bottle of wine_."

"_What_?" A few seconds later I heard heavy footsteps stomp up the stairs.

I might've been worried for Ino if I hadn't heard the Horse say what he did next.

"I think I'll go look around for Sakura. I'm a little worried."

"Okay Dai–"

"What are you doing?"

I banged my head on the table, hard. Clutching it, I slowly looked up to see someone squatting right in front of me.

It turned out that there was someone who wasn't an adult or a toddler here tonight. This guy looked around my age. When our eyes met, my mind blanked for a split second. I'd never seen such blue eyes before.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He asked again, a broad grin spreading across his tanned face.

"Uh…I dropped my earring?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Sure you did," he laughed. He was still grinning. His teeth were so white. I wish he'd put those things away. "Mind if I join you?"

I didn't think when I said, "Did you drop something, too?"

"Yeah," he laughed louder this time, "a glass of Coke!" If I wasn't so scared, I might have smiled.

Thoughts slugged through my brain. My head throbbed where I'd hit it. I didn't want to be alone with a guy, especially one I just met. On the other hand, the Horse could come any nanosecond. If he saw this guy standing in front of me, he'd probably check out what he was looking at. Plus, if Blondie tried anything, there was a whole crowd of people in the room next door.

"Fine," I whispered. "You'd better be quiet, though." I scooted over to make more room. "Do you think anyone will see us?"

"Nah. I only found you because I was sitting on the couch right in front of this thing and your hair caught my eye." He added, "I've never seen anything like it."

"Um, thanks? I didn't dye it in case you're wondering. It's natural."

"Seriously?" he smiled in wonder. "That's awesome!"

Had the room always been this warm?

"I'm Sakura, by the way," I said, looking at my hands, "Sakura Haruno."

When I looked back up, his eyes were twinkling. In a proud voice, he told me, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm going to be the next Hokage." Twinkle. Twinkle-twinkle.

This time, I really did smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

For a second, I was a normal girl who didn't have to worry about anyone finding her.

XXX

We stayed under the table together for the rest of the party. I don't remember ever talking to someone so much, or ever having someone talk to _me_ so much. Naruto was full of wordswordswords, words about Ramen, words about his apparently perverted porn novel-writing Godfather, words about his stoic best friend, word after word after word after word.

It wasn't as though I wasn't used to talkative people. I was best friends with Ino, the queen of talking about nothing and everything. Somehow, it was different talking with him, though. With Ino, she'd just drone on, eventually forcing you to zone out so you wouldn't go insane. All you had to do was pretend to listen and say a word or two every now and then. Something about Naruto made me pay attention, made me want to say something back. Were hormones responsible for this?

The Horse must've given up on me because he never found us. I was able to enjoy myself even though he was nearby, a first.

Somewhere in our conversation, we arrived on the subject of yours truly.

"Sakura-chan," he asked in the voice of someone drawing up their courage, "why are you hiding from someone?"

_Because I trusted someone I barely knew for a minute and was taken advantage of._

"I don't know."

He nodded and changed the subject to sports. I suspected he knew I was lying.

All too soon, the party ended. The fun ended. My mom came looking for me herself, calling my name into every room. Once she'd turned her back on the living room, I popped out from under the side table. Naruto crawled out, too.

"Was that your mom?" he asked me.

I nodded.

"She looks like you."

"I hear that a lot." It was true. People loved to comment on how we could be twins. Twins with a psycho age difference.

"Sakura!" my mom called again.

"It was nice meeting you, Naruto," I told him honestly. "Bye."

He waved, grinning cheerily. "Bye, Sakura-chan. Hope to see you again sometime!"

His sincerity made me smile, too. With one last wave, I turned and chased after my mom.

She was furious, her face flushed in anger. "Sakura Haruno!" One guy stared at us as he opened the door to leave, forgetting to hold it. It slammed into his nose with an ugly smacking sound. "Where have you been?"

Instead of answering, I looked down at my feet.

"I was worried sick about you!"

"I'm sorry," I mumbled, looking back up.

"What if something happened to you?"

_Too_

_late._

"Relax, mom," I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "This is the Yamanaka's house, and we're having a Christmas party. It's not a heavy metal rock concert."

She took a deep breath, released, then nodded. "Sorry, honey. You're right. Be careful, though, okay?"

_It doesn't make any difference if I'm careful or not._

"Okay."

We went into the Horse's car together. Being the only one in the back seat of his car made me a nervous wreck. I was exposed to the world without anyone next to me, without even a thin layer of protection. I was a little lamb strapped down to the fence. Once the wolf tricked the mama lamb into leaving, he would remove his sheep's clothes and attack: bite, scratch, hurt, rip, tear, eat, killkillkillkillkill.

Nothing happened when we got home, though. We all got out of the car at the same time – I made sure to stay at least three meters away at all times – and entered the house together. The Horse and mom went to the living room and eased themselves onto the sofa, sitting side-by-side, flipping the channels.

I made a beeline for my room. I tore off the dress as soon as the door was locked and was just putting on my pajama top when the door creaked open.

I'd locked the door, though.

"It's a shame you took it off." I heard the springs of my bed crunch as weight was added to the mattress. "It looked so good on you, too."

I was a deer trapped inside of its own body, frozen staring at the blinding headlights, terrified, without any time or strength or courage to escape.

Slowly, so, so slowly, I turned my head. He was sitting on the bed, running his fingers through the fabric of mom's dress, staring my legs.

_If I scream, will someone save me?_

_If I run, would I be fast enough?_

_If I cry, will he feel sorry for me and let me go?_

_If I fight back, will I be able to win?_

_If I stop breathing, would I escape from him at long, long last…?_

"Sakura." The mattress made a relieved groaning sound as the burden slowly lifted. "I was looking for you tonight."

I took an involuntary step back.

If heroes really existed, where were they? If children really _did_ mean so much to their parents, where was my mom? Where was my dad? Where were Ino, Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka, Kakashi-sensei, Hinata, Tenten, and Naruto?

What was everyone doing while I was being devoured from the inside?


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Chapter 3 is up.^^ This is a long one! 0.0 It's almost doubling the number of words! Thanks for all of your reviews guys! I was _soooo_ thrilled when I read them! X3 To:

**Emmy loves her Demon Naru**:Aww thanks! X3 I have the most fun when I'm writing couple scenes so I'm glad someone else enjoyed it too^^

**missriss142**: Thank you :)

**Tammie Silveira**: Only if he's lucky lol. ^.~ Actually, I haven't planned that part yet. I'm just winging this for the most part ^^

**hatakevan**: Yeah, the Hokage's still the big guy (or girl) and everything, and still the most respected and admired person around, just not a ninja. And thank you so much! XD

**gilmaxter**: Heehee^^ Thank you~

**wind797**: I know how you feel. I'd love to put him through the shredder. :(

**xxDarxCherryBlossomSakuraxx**: I'm happy to say that I will :)

**nayomixsaga**: Lol XD

Nobody Knows

Chapter 3

Ino found me slumped in my chair on Monday morning, fighting to keep my eyes open. If only I could force my eyelids to stay apart with at pair of toothpicks like Tom did in Tom and Jerry. Unfortunately I wasn't a 2-D cartoon who could heal from any injury, so I guess that wasn't much of an option.

Ino dragged a chair up to my desk and sat with a groan, rubbing her temples. "My _head_," she whined.

As I yawned I told her, "It's your fault for drinking last night."

"My dad's already punished me plenty; I don't need anything from _you_. He's taking away my phone for two months. How am I going to _survive_ during break? How am I supposed to talk to _Sai_?" Sai was her boyfriend. They'd already been going out for three months: a record for Ino.

"What's the matter, Ino?" our friend Tenten asked her as she walked in with Hinata. "You look horrible."

"_Thanks_," Ino said sarcastically.

"She's hungover from her Christmas party last night," I explained. Ino shot me a filthy look. I ignored her.

Tenten raised an exasperated eyebrow at her while Hinata shifted uncomfortably, pretending she hadn't heard. Being raised in a protected environment, Hinata never heard about underage drinking and probably wasn't sure how to handle it now that she had. It was probably for her sake that Tenten refrained from commenting and changed the subject to her own weekend.

Kakashi-sensei was ten minutes late for class that day (how did he still have a job?) so he got me (the infamously reliable and straight-laced student) to drop some papers in the office he was supposed to have delivered an hour and ten minutes ago.

A surprise with blond hair and hypnotizing blue eyes was waiting for me in there although neither of us suspected it.

I walked through the door and into a clean, white, fresh-smelling room that completely contrasted with the rest of the filthy and often stinky school. I stood in front of the receptionist's desk waiting for someone to notice me.

A few seconds (or minutes; who knew?) later, a heavyset lady in a painfully bright neon pink business suit (Ino would have her arrested if she saw her) glanced around the room and spotted me.

"Hey, darlin'," she smiled broadly. "What can I do for ya?"

"Kakashi-sensei asked me to give you these," I held up the papers. "He says he's sorry that they're late." I left out the part about him claiming to have saved a cat from getting stuck in a tree on his way here.

"Why, thank–"

"Sakura-chan!" a familiar voice exclaimed from somewhere behind me.

I turned around.

_No. Flipping. Way._

"Naruto?" I said slowly, worming the letters through my mouth.

He stood there beside an old man I assumed was his Godfather, shining like a sun magnified fifty times its normal size.

"What are you doing here?" he asked not in an accusative tone but in a "this-world-is-so-amazing-and-full-of-wonderful-coincidences-PS-I-had-six-doughnuts-for-breakfast" tone.

"I go to school here."

"No way!"

"Way."

"I'm going here starting today, too!"

This was so ridiculously cliché. Which chick flick (as my dad called them) had this run away and escaped to KHS from?

"Why are you transferring now?" Realizing that this might sound mean, I added, "Nobody ever does a week and a half before Christmas. You're probably making school history."

He scratched the back of his neck. I observed that he seemed to do that a lot. What surprised me was the smile fading from his lips. "Pervy Sage's friend died so we went to his funeral over in Suna."

I zipped my mouth shut, sewed it, chained it, locked it, and threw away the key.

"I'm getting some private lessons from one of my teachers at home so I can catch up."

I nodded.

The "Pervy Sage" I'd heard so much about stepped forward and extended his hand. "My name is Jiraiya. This immature kid over here is my Godson." Naruto looked grumpy at being referred to as such. "May I ask who you are, beautiful young lady?"

"Hey, Pervy Sage," Naruto said warningly. "Don't get carried away!"

He was around the same height as _him_. His cheeks heated to a rosy color, a sleazy grin spread across his face. My insides turned to boiling water, burning and scalding me, the steam building up and making me bulge as it ran out of room.

One of my hands clutched at my shoulder, bitten and bitten and torn nails digging into my skin. Even though it looked casual, there was nothing casual about it. It helped keep the hand I extended steady. I might have evaded shaking if this had been any other person's guardian, but he was Naruto's. I owed him for keeping my hiding place a secret last night.

The moment our hands gripped each other the fire in his cheeks faded, the grin became a somber line, and most noticeably of all his eyes narrowed shrewdly.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," I introduced myself. Amazingly, my voice was calm and clear. "I met Naruto last night at the Yamanaka party. I'm really sorry about your friend." I retracted my hand quickly.

He smiled in a bright, friendly way, the strangeness in his expression abandoned somewhere in the middle of an ocean on the opposite side of the world. "Thank you. Your name suits you, missy."

"Thank you," I said. My eyes flitted around the office, searching the air for a reason to leave them in the middle of an introduction. "Uh, I need to get to class now. It was nice meeting you." I bowed politely before dismissing myself.

I was out the door and speed walking at the end of the hallway when someone called out to me.

"Sakura-chan, wait up!"

I stopped and turned to see Naruto jogging up to me. When he reached me (not at all out of breath – he must have been in good shape) he said, "That lady told me to get you to take me to Kakashi-sensei's room because you're in his class."

Once again: _so_ cliché.

"Yeah," I said. "Come on."

I slowed my pace to a leisurely walk and he matched it.

"So, what's Kakashi-sensei like?"

I snorted. "He's lazy, weird, reads porn during class, and he's always late. But he's my favorite teacher. He's a cool guy."

Naruto laughed. "What about the other ones?"

"Well…Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, and Iruka-sensei are pretty normal I guess. Asuma-sensei smokes during class though, so I don't suggest you sit too close to him if you can help it. Guy-sensei on the other hand – he's the gym coach – he's weird. I mean _weird_."

"There's a lot of weird when you live with Pervy Sage."

"Does he wear green spandex?"

"No, but he does wear a jacket with puff balls."

I laughed.

Naruto grinned and shouted enthusiastically, "Ah, found it!"

"What?"

"A smile!"

Blood pulsed through my cheeks faster and hotter than wildfire.

"You were all serious and stuff in the office, but now you're smiling again!"

I looked away, embarrassed. What can I say? The guy was a natural.

We were soon standing in front of the door. Muffled voices spoke inside. A deep voice said something and booming laughter of all pitches followed.

"Sounds like a good class," he said.

"If you're nervous, we can wait a few–"

I stopped talking when he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open with his signature expression lighting up the universe.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I am back!"

I stood next to him, staring at the faces that were staring at him.

The noise broke out all at once. Voices piled on top of each other, creating a stack of confusing sound.

"NARUTO!"

"You idiot! Where've you been?"

"I haven't seen you for months!"

"I missed you!"

"Sakura, what the heck are you doing with him? No wonder you took so long!"

"There's a spot on the soccer team!"

"Sorry but this school doesn't serve instant ramen."

"Stupid! Don't just disappear like that!"

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE HURTING MY FREAKING HEAD, DAMMIT!"

Clearly he was popular.

"Hey," Naruto hollered. "I missed you guys too!"

I sneaked back to my desk without anyone noticing; that is, anyone except Ino. She glared at me while rubbing her temples as if this was my fault. I ignored her efforts to vent on me, instead focusing my attention on Naruto and his reunion with his buddies. I wondered how I could have never noticed him before. I'd probably seen him now in then in hallways or at school events, but I'd never truly _saw_ him until he'd joined me under that table.

I became so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice class had started. When I looked around I saw Naruto sitting two seats to my right. He saw me too and gave me a friendly wave. I waved back uncertainly.

I found out Ino didn't miss a single thing when we got up to change classes.

"Sakura," she said to grab my attention as soon as the bell rang. "What's going on with you and Mr. Sunshine over there?"

"Nothing," I said honestly. "We're just acquaintances."

She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "Sure. And seriously, you must be the only teenager in a one hundred mile radius who would call anyone an 'acquaintance.'"

"Sue me."

"Seriously, just tell me."

Why couldn't she just mind her own business for once? "I already did."

"No, you didn't."

"Think what you want to."

"I will if you don't give me any details."

"There aren't any details to _give_!" I snapped, losing my patience. "We just met at your Christmas party and talked a little, that's it."

"He was at my party?" She seemed surprised.

"Yeah, he was. You were just too busy sleeping off alcohol to notice!" A few people shot me glances that were meant to be my "shut up" cue. I was too irritated to care. How could Ino do this? How could the only thing she cared about be worthless tidbits of gossip while I was being sucked through a black hole to some airless place in who-knows-where?

That's when I saw the tears.

Guilt overrode the anger rushing through my blood. My heart sank. I wasn't being any better than she was. I was probably worse. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know. The only one to blame here was me.

"Oh, Ino...," I said, placing my books on the ground and wrapping my arms around her. "I'm sorry."

A sob shook her body. I felt her nod, then hug me back with the arm her purse was slung over. I didn't really mind when it hit me in the head.

"Haruno, Yamanaka! No PDA at school!" Kurenai-sensei reminded us sternly.

We let go and went into the class room. I had to go back into the hallways to fetch my forgotten supplies.

XXX

Ino had to go to detention at lunchtime. She said something about doing her make up in the middle of History. Hinata had to train for Archery Club, and Tenten was sitting with Hinata's cousin Neji (AKA Tenten's boyfriend). They were pretty much the only people I spent time with (in or out of school), so that left me with choice D: me-time.

I normally read under these rare circumstances except I finished my book on the way to school. That led to Plan B: Relaxation in Silence. In other words I found someplace quiet and did absolutely nothing.

The school grounds were deserted. No one hung around outside during winter unless it was snowing or they were doing some outdoor club activity. I was about to pick a spot on the bleachers when I realized that would be stupid: the metal would give me frostbite. Instead I found a wooden bench somewhere at the back of the school and curled up into a lumpy ball.

I breathed onto my hands and squinted up at the sun. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, but it still looked so far away today. I shifted around to get more comfortable, leaned my head against the back, and closed my eyes.

I didn't fall asleep. I was somewhere in limbo between reality and dream, like a doze. It was a comfortably empty bliss.

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Bl–

_He was on top of me, so heavy, too strong, more beast than any rabid animal could ever be._

_Don't think._

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blank

_He was waiting for my mom in tux as she walked down the isle in a poofy white dress._

_Don't think._

Blank

Blank

Blank

Blan–

_He brought friends over for poker. They were playing for who got the first turn with me. The winner was a huge man whose skin rippled at contact._

_Don't even dare think._

B–

_I was reading in bed when I heard a knock on the door. I paused to mark my place before closing it and walking over to the door. Daichi stood there, wearing a translucent white tank top and shorts I suspected to be boxers. _

_He was a pretty typical-looking guy with black hair and dark brown eyes, standing taller than mom and me but shorter than dad. Although fit, you could see that his previously flat stomach was in the early stages of developing into a pot belly._

_He still felt like a stranger to me. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to think about having my step dad show up at my door in boxers. Alone._

_I decided to just play the role of the sweet daughter and smiled. "Hello, Daichi-san," I greeted politely. "How are you?"_

_He smiled back, the same look he'd worn at the wedding almost thirteen hours ago. "Good, thank you. Sorry to interrupt you like this, but I saw the light was on while I was getting a drink," he explained. "Can't sleep?"_

_I shook my head. _

_"Me neither." He took a step, officially entering my room. I distanced myself one step because our closeness was just plain uncomfortable. __"Suki's out like a light, though." I winced internally when he said my mom's name. "The wedding must have exhausted her."_

_Another step forward. Another step back._

_My instinct told me something was wrong. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. I wasn't sure about the normal step father-step daughter procedures, but having him visit and enter my room at night while my mom was asleep didn't feel like the right way to go about it._

_"Sorry, Daichi-san," I said in a calm voice. "I'd love to chat, but I'm feeling really tired right now." A genuine yawn came to my aid. "Would you mind…?"_

_Two steps forward. Three steps back. The wall._

_He reached a long arm to close the door. The lock clicked into place. _

_"Yes, actually. I would."_

_I opened my mouth for a scream but half a second later he had stuffed something – a sock? – inside. _

_The first inescapable nightmare took place on the night of my mom's remarriage._

A hand touched my shoulder. My eyes flew open and I jerked away violently.

"Sakura-chan?" an alarmed someone said. It wasn't _his_ voice. It wasn't deep enough. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. I cursed inside. Now wasn't a great time for company. "Sorry, Naruto."

He didn't seem convinced. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Something like that."

"What was it about?"

"I don't really feel like talking about it."

"Oh. Okay."

He sat down next to me on the bench. It was quiet. Way too quiet. The silence let me revisit my nightmare/reality. I felt my eyes burn. To my horror, tears shrouded my eyes, making the world seem awfully soggy. Luckily I wasn't sobbing or trembling, otherwise Naruto might have noticed. I could have seemed completely normal if not for the salty water filling up my eyes.

I fought to keep them inside of my eyes. I made it to the point where everything became a hazy mixture of unshaped colors.

The clouds became too heavy.

The

rain

fell.

Naruto was looking at something in the forward direction. If I wiped my eyes, he'd see it and notice I was _crying_. That was the last thing I needed. So I sat still and looked at the dead, dry scenery that was the school yard.

Out of the corner of my flooded eyes I saw his head turn towards me. I waited for whoever controlled the sky to hurry up and shoot a bolt of lightning at me but it didn't come. I was hopelessly unfried.

Luck must have been on my side because he turned back to face forward. I was thinking that he hadn't noticed when I felt a comforting arm wrap around my shoulders. I was gently pulled into a leaning position so that my head was resting on his muscular shoulder.

I had no idea how long we sat there like that, with me drenching his shirt and him silently giving me what I hadn't realized I was in such desperate need of.

XXX

The type of position we were in finally hit me an eternities later. I sat up straight as my cheeks erupted in volcanic heat. My eyes had long since dried and tears caked my cheeks. I felt filthy.

"Do you feel better?" Naruto asked as he stretched his arms. He turned to look at me again.

"Yeah," I avoided his eyes. "Thanks."

"That must've been some nightmare." There was awkwardness in his smile but it was still just as warm as ever.

I nodded.

"Do you want to talk about it now?"

I shook my head. "Sorry," I added.

He looked surprised. "Why are you sorry?"

_For burdening you with hints and curiosity I can't let you satisfy._

"For crying like that." I sighed, "I must've looked like such a baby!" I gave a small smile to tell him I was alright.

_I'm not alright._

"Yeah, you did." He grinned and ruffled my hair the way dad used to. "I don't mind though, so don't worry about it."

It occurred to me that the sun was setting. "Oh my God!" I exclaimed suddenly. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah…around five, I guess?"

"Oh my God!" I said again. "They're gonna kill me!"

"No they won't," he said easily.

I didn't say anything and rushed back into the school, followed by Naruto. "Flip, flip, flip!" I said. Flip was my preferential profanity substitute. "Oh, _flip_!"

"Why are you so upset?"

"Because," I answered distractedly. I opened my locker and immediately reached into my backpack to grab my phone. I turned it on, telling it, "Hurry up!" as it took its sweet time.

I had five voicemails from mom.

1 (recorded two hours ago): "Sakura, honey, you're running a little late. Call me as soon as you can."

2 (recorded one hour and forty-five minutes ago): "Where are you, honey? I already called your friends, but they said you weren't with them."

3 (recorded one and a half hours ago): "Sakura! Pick up!"

4 (recorded fifty-seven minutes ago): "Please call me! I'm worried sick!"

5 (recorded fifty-six minutes ago): "That's it! I'm calling Daichi to have him look for you. You'd better have a good explanation or you're in _deep shit_ when you get home, Sakura Haruno! Love ya~"

_Flip flip flip flip flip flip flip flip flip flip FLIP! _

"Who's Daichi?" Naruto asked.

"You heard that?" I hadn't had it on speaker phone.

"I'd be deaf if I hadn't. You're mom must be _mad_. That was your mom, right?"

I took a shaky breath before saying, "Yeah. She hardly ever curses." I yanked my bag out of my locker, shoved a few books in it and slammed it shut. I began jogging through the hall while being easily matched by my blond companion.

"So who's Daichi?" he asked again.

"That would be me."

He stood behind us with a thin lady in the school security uniform holding a walkie-talkie. The woman muttered into the mouth part as he spoke.

"I'm Sakura's step dad," the Horse extended his hand. "I think I saw you at Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka's party last night?"

"Yeah," Naruto laughed. "I'm the one who broke the glass. My name's Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage!'

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

They shook.

I pretended I was busy with my phone, pressing buttons that didn't do much in particular.

It was strange seeing the two of them talking to each other and shaking hands. Somehow it had been as though the two of them were from different worlds, lived on different planets in alternate realities where the other didn't exist. They had both been so spread apart in my mind that it was shocking to find them interacting with each other.

"Sakura, could you please look at me?"

I obeyed. My head rose and my eyes met the Horse's dark pits of evil. I had enough hate concentrated in my gaze to burn a hole through his head but he didn't even notice. I felt another pair of eyes on me. I had a feeling I knew who they belonged to, but I didn't look around to check and make sure.

"Suki is very worried."

Thanks for stating the obvious.

"She seemed so distressed when she called. Luckily I guessed that you might be here. Who would've thought you were with a boy all that time?"

"Look." Naruto sounded as though his nerves were being plucked. "Sakura-chan and I weren't doing anything. I was just trying to make her feel better because she had a nightmare." I wished he hadn't said that.

"Why would Sakura be sleeping in school?"

"Because I was tired," I said, surprising both the Horse and me by speaking. "I was up late last night and you know it better than anyone else." I was terrified when I realized what I'd done. It had been as though someone else had been borrowing my mouth to say what I had only ever been able to think. Whoever it was had just earned me a free one way ticket to Dog-Doodoo Land.

"Yeah," Naruto added. "She fell asleep during lunch and didn't wake up until I found her after school." To me he explained, "Your friends noticed that you were missing from your classes and they were worried. I guessed you were somewhere close by so I went looking for you just in case you were still somewhere on campus." I nodded to show I understood.

"In that case you have my appreciation," the Horse said to Naruto. "Things might have been much worse if you hadn't done that." I read the underlying message meant for me and only for me. "You'll have to go to bed earlier from now on."

I nodded at the ground.

"Good girl. I'll just call Suki to let her know I found you and we can go. Tell your friend goodbye." Once he had dialed the number and put the phone next to his ear, I turned to Naruto.

"Thanks for everything, Naruto," I told him.

He smiled. "Your welcome, Sakura-chan." He leaned in to whisper intimately, "No offense or anything, but I don't think I like your step dad." Normally I wouldn't feel comfortable with having someone I'd just met a day ago whispering in my ear. Naruto was an exception. He had done nothing but good ever since we first spoke. Somehow it looked like he had managed to get closer to me than even Ino had. It was impossible not to trust him.

I cupped my hand around my mouth and told him quietly, "Me neither."

**AN:** The End (of chapter 3 anyway)! Whew. That was a long one. :D Please review. I still love reviews~! XD lol Thanks for reading^^


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Hey y'all! Here's Chapter 4! I've been really into the Sookie Stackhouse series lately! O_O (lol just a fun fact). Thanks for reading and commenting! To:

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Nobody Knows

Chapter 4

Late on Thursday night, we got a call from dad. My dad lived in Amegakure ever since the Big D, keeping all the awkwardness at a safe distance. We barely saw each other once a year – and that was if I was lucky. He'd asked if it would be alright with my mom if he visited for the weekend.

I was on the phone too at the time. Neither of them realized until I butt in with the grace of a limp elephant walking on a power line.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Sakura?" dad said. I'd become so accustomed to the way he sounded over the phone that I'd almost forgotten what he sounded like in person. "Hey, how are you?"

Rudely ignoring his greeting, I continued. "Why won't you stay over for Christmas? You'd get to spend a lot more time with us."

He paused. "Well, I'd hate to get in the way of your family time and–"

"What 'family time'? If you're talking about spending time with mom and the H– and _Daichi_," I pronounced his name like it was some deadly epidemic, "then we've already had plenty of that. I'd rather spend time with my _real_ family, thank you."

"Sakura!" mom's voice became shrill. I could hear her voice not only through the phone but from the kitchen, which was on the opposite side of the house from my room. "Be nice!"

_Because the Horse was always so nice to me._

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm just trying to make a point. Dad is part of the family, too."

Dad was quiet. I wasn't sure if he was angry, touched, or what. After a few seconds, he spoke again. "Sorry, sweetheart. But even if you say that, I have work to do." It was so obvious he was lying that I felt embarrassed for him.

This time, I didn't say anything. Instead I thought about how dad must feel sitting in a house with his pregnant ex-wife and her new (pet/mold/pain/amoeba/horndog/housefly) husband. I understood. I said nothing.

"Alright, then," my mom took charge of the conversation no one else seemed to feel like carrying on. "When's the soonest you can come over? We'll get the guest room ready for you." Translation: We'll get the house ready for you so that we can pretend that we clean regularly.

"Saturday morning would be best. I'll have to leave fairly early on Sunday; I have a meeting on Monday at around noon and the flight isn't short."

"Alright," mom agreed. "Which flight are you getting on? Which airport are you using?"

I hung up for the boring stuff.

I knew at least one thing: this would be the safest, most normal weekend I've had all year.

At least, that was what I had thought.

XXX

Ino wasn't the type of person to keep an opinion to herself. Once it crossed her mind, it was out in the air. For example: back in our blissfully simple kindergarten days, I'd trusted her with the secret that I didn't know how to tie my shoes yet. Of course, she yelled it out to the whole playground and left me hiding under the monkey bars in embarrassment. I'd decided then to never ever trust her with a secret again.

Anyway, on Friday morning she took one glance at my tired face and had a thought bubble up to the surface. She told me all about it, predictably enough.

"You know, Sakura," she said, "I've noticed lately that you seem tired a lot. I mean, seriously, it's like you never sleep. You look like a freaking raccoon these days. No offense. I love raccoons, by the way. They're so cute! Want me to put some cover up on you?"

I shook my head. She definitely wouldn't stop with the cover up and go to a full-fledged make over. I hated make up. It felt funny.

She shrugged in a "suit yourself" way. "Still, you really ought to get some sleep, girl. What if you end up sleeping through your classes again? You should really see a doctor. I think you might be getting insomnia. I've heard that insomnia can be fatal. You know, there was this one time when I couldn't sleep for four days straight! Can you believe that? I finally tried sleeping pills, and that did the trick. But my dad says that it's not healthy to rely on sleeping pills. What a hypocrite. He does it _all_ the time. You know, there was this woman in a magazine I was reading once who said that having herbal tea relaxes you so you can sleep better. Oh my god, did I tell you what Sai said yesterday?"

Ino's earlier topic made way for her boyfriend. I zoned out to escape from the latest episode of The Unfreakingbelievable Dramas of Ino Yamanaka.

XXX

At lunch time, Kakashi-sensei asked me to come for a private discussion in his classroom. To be honest, it didn't sound a ton like something I'd want to take part in. Not when it would only be the two of us.

"Couldn't we just speak right here?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "Here" meant in the hallway, where teachers could see and hear us in their classrooms. He gave me a questioning look that I pretended not to notice.

"Alright," he said, shrugging. "I just wanted to ask you if you wouldn't mind staying after school."

Uh-oh.

"Why?" I asked, a little too quickly.

"Tutoring," he answered. "Naruto needs help with his tutoring today."

Naruto seemed to be popping up in my life a lot.

"Due to a set of unfortunate events, I have gotten behind in my work."

That was just another way of saying that being late to school every day has finally taken its toll.

"I won't be able to tutor him today, and he's so far behind that even a day makes a difference. It would really help if you could stay behind for an hour or two to watch over his work, give him some advice; that sort of thing. I'd be in the room to supervise, of course."

He'd be there to make sure we were _only_ studying. Nothing else. None of those hormonal shenanigans, got it?

I thought about it. Two males + one female + deserted classroom = bad. I added the security cameras to the equation. Not so bad. I'd have proof if anything happened. In any case, I trusted Naruto (at least, I was pretty sure that I did). I trusted Kakashi-sensei to some extent; he was a teacher after all. Then again, teachers could be molesters, too. I was being too arrogant, though: there were much prettier and stupider students out there. What if mom needed help cleaning up? I scratched that out. She hated having help. She was a woman with too much pride. Even if she _did_ puke on regular bases.

I didn't have any more reasons to object. "I'll help."

I think he smiled. It was hard to tell with that odd mask he always wore. "That's good. Now I can concentrate in peace. Thank you, Sakura. You can go have lunch with your friends now."

I did.

I told Tenten and Hinata (Ino was in the bathroom. To be honest, though, I wasn't all that fussed to find she wasn't there to listen.).

"You're tutoring…Naruto-kun?" Something about Hinata's expression made me feel uneasy, maybe even irritated. No, that was absurd. Hinata never irritated me. I got along with her better than I did with Tenten or Ino.

"Yes," I said.

"Oh." She looked down at her milk carton.

"Wow, Sakura," Tenten looked at me appraisingly. I had a bad feeling about that. "I never thought you were that kind of girl. Geez, you've been surprising me a lot lately, with you skipping and everything." She registered my look of confusion. She wasn't a quarter as oblivious as Ino. "You and Naruto – teens of the same age – in one room. Almost completely alone. Teacher-student scenario going on. _Hello_? Wake up and smell the cupids!"

I snorted. Naruto and I…wait. Naruto and I? That wasn't so – wait, no. Bad hormones! Bad, bad, bad!

A little voice from the deepest corner of my mind – or maybe my arm pit. How should I know? – told me I was being stupid. I should let go and fly off into outer space with a certain blond at my side, laughing his head off at the weird-looking passing aliens in their little high-tech hovercraft.

I told that voice to shut up. It was the stupid one. It didn't know anything. It didn't get what went on in their heads.

The voice said that not all of their heads were the same.

I asked the voice how it knew.

Apparently, it just did.

I shoved it back to wherever it came from.

Back on Planet Reality, Tenten was giving a slight laugh. "Just think about it," she instructed me.

I already had.

XXX

After the final bell, I grabbed my backpack and walked into Kakashi-sensei's classroom, checking that Naruto really was there before entering. They didn't lie when they said that school was totally different without people.

Without a word, I slipped into the seat next to Naruto and put my stuff down.

He saw me and looked surprised.

"What?" I asked, feeling self conscious.

"Ah, it's nothing," he said quickly. "It's just…Kakashi-sensei didn't tell me who would be coming to help." He hadn't expected me.

I wasn't sure how I should take this. "Well, now you know," I said lightly.

His smile returned. The world started moving again.

"So, where are you?" I asked.

He took a piece of paper out of an orange folder labeled Make Up Work and gestured to it. I gave it a quick glance. Quadrilateral equations. We'd done them as a review unit earlier in the year. He was way behind.

"Okay, what do you need help on?"

Fifteen minutes later, when I was struggling to demonstrate how to solve a problem (note to self: don't pick teaching as a future career), Naruto watched in amazement as I swept through it. He didn't get how to do it, but apparently he did get that I was good at it.

"Wow, Sakura-chan!" he said admiringly. "You're really smart!"

I turned to look away, trying to hide the flush that crept up my neck and was resting on my cheeks. "Not really," I said modestly. I noticed that Kakashi-sensei was staring at us over his papers. I could only imagine what was going through his porn-loving head at that moment.

When I started teaching again (if you could call it that), I could still feel the blood pulsing through my head.

Forty-five minutes later, Naruto got his first problem right. Mission accomplished.

XXX

I got home at around ten till six. The TV was on in the living room, but I didn't dare check to see who it was in case it was the Demon of Horniness by himself. I went straight upstairs and into my bedroom.

It took me a few minutes to realize my room had been cleaned; I'd never thought mom would bother with it since it was never all that dirty to begin with. I kept everything in order. Mom sometimes told me that she'd rather me have a dirty room than a clean one. After sitting at my desk with a book, I saw that the surface had been wiped free of dust.

_mom was in my room she saw my stuff she cleaned it she might have looked under the bed what if she found them I'm dead meat mom must have seen them oh my god what am I going to do she saw them help me she saw them what if she found out help me what if she knows she must I bet she does oh my god somebody help me_

My heart was trying to burst through my lungs, ribs, and skin and into the open air. With the hastiness of a maniac on the run, I dropped to the floor and reached an arm under my bed. Furiously, my fingers grasped around anything and everything it could touch. I felt the soft thinness of cotton and the fluffiness of dust bunnies, the hard wood of a music box, but none of those were what I needed to find.

"I wonder what you're looking for," my mom's voice said from behind me. Her voice was cold, hard. She was angry, no, _furious_. And disappointed.

I turned on the spot – which wasn't easy in my position – to look at her. More accurately, to look at what she might or might not have been holding.

I didn't need to search any longer.

_she found them she knows I'm in such trouble oh my god oh my god oh my god how did this happen she's furious somebody help me she knows she'll know I'm going to die he's going to kill me oh my god god god _

Ice cold emotions rushed through me. It was as if a waterfall was suddenly crashing on top of me. If I had been standing I might have fallen to the ground.

My mom held the pills I'd been hiding under my bed. The pills that I'd been taking to keep any more expectations from being added to the list. The pills I had taken at _his_ instruction, because he didn't want to be found out.

_"Here," he handed over a plastic bag._

_Cautiously, I looked inside to see what it held. Birth control pills. I'd never seen them in real life before. _

_"I don't want to have any more kids. I don't want Suki to know about this, got it? Make sure you take them. And whatever you do don't let anyone find them."_

Somebody had found them.

**AN:** That's the end of the 4th chapter! I know it was short, but bear with me, please? I can (probably) guarantee that the next one is going to be longer. ^^ Hope you're looking forward to it. :) Thanks for reading! Please comment! :D (Still loving reviews! Lol XD)


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** Hello! _**Please, PLEASE, READ MY BOTTOM NOTE!**_ (_after_ reading the chapter, though, 'kay? :D) I'd just like to say thanks for all of your support and nice reviews (boy, do I love reviews ;D) up until now. They've really given me a lot of motivation :) To:

**Emmy loves her Demon Naru**: I'm glad you do! :) and if you read the bottom note, you'll find out how long it'll be :D Don't do it until you're done with the chapter, though, please? lol I'm advertising! That's so weird! XD

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**JAYSEN**: I'm glad you did. This kind of thing happens a lot more than most people are aware of, and a lot of the time no one ever finds out about it. Also, thanks!^^

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**wind797**: thank you :) and the Horse should just stuff a raw rotten egg in his mouth, don't you think -3- (he deserves a lot worse, but still, rotten eggs are horrible! XD)

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Nobody Knows

Chapter 5

"Sakura," my mom's voice was steady, despite all of the emotions that were contorting her face. "Why do you have these?" She gave the bottle a little shake. You could hear all of the space in there as the few remaining pills clackety-clacked against the inside. It proved that I'd been using them, and yet she still asked. I guessed that she was so angry that she needed something towards the innocent side of the meter to keep herself from exploding.

I was silent as I rose from the floor. I didn't answer her. I didn't need to, nor did I want to. We both knew why I had them. I just knew everything else that went with it.

Mom closed the door behind her and starting yelling at me. What had I been thinking? What if I got a disease? Who had it been with? Since when? For how long? How many times? Why? I was a fourteen year old freshman (I'd be fifteen in March), I was _way_ too young!

I couldn't help but be furious. She was yelling at me for something I wanted even less than her, something that had been haunting me and controlling my entire life. She was blaming me for what I couldn't help, what I wanted to help, what I couldn't tell her or anyone.

I was frustrated with her – with the world – for being so stupid, so blind, so oblivious that she couldn't see or hear or smell what was happening right inside of her own house.

I yelled back at her. "Do you even realize what you're saying?" I demanded incredulously. "You're such a hypocrite! You had me when you were sixteen!" I'd said the worst, lowest thing I could have possibly retorted with. I was horrible. I was a bitch. I felt good.

She closed her eyes for a second, her eyebrows and temple mashing together into one lump of frustration. After a moment, she took a deep breath went to sit on my bed. "I might have deserved that."

I didn't think so. "You might not have." I sat down next to her.

I tried to step into her shoes. As a mother, how would I feel to know my daughter wasn't a virgin any more? I couldn't imagine. Being a mother seemed as different as living on Jupiter.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I probably could have handled that better. But," there was a firm conviction in her voice, "I can't say I'm happy about this. I'd like to speak with the person you're…involved with."

_You already have._

"Is he in your class?"

_No._

"Is he in your school?"

_No._

"Do I know him?"

_Yes._

"Answer me, _dammit_!" she was yelling again. I could tell that this was totally throwing her off balance. It threw me off balance, too. The only one who didn't seem perturbed by this was the Horse.

Who was standing in my doorway.

Just like those times when–

_I was pinned helplessly against my bed and the Horse was stripping my clothes off one by one, despite my resistance– _

_I_ _was crying all alone in my room, without anyone there to tell me I was alright or that they'd rip off the Horse's head for me or that they were so, so sorry for not realizing– _

_While the big man had his way with me, the Horse and his poker pals told me what to do– _

_Eight hours after he'd done it again, my mom came to wake me up even though I hadn't slept a wink. I wanted to tell her, to scream at her, to cry in her arms, to let her know she'd married a monster, to– _

_I was crying on Naruto's shoulder after reliving what I wanted to forget so badly on that bench–_

_I was meeting him for the first time when he came to pick mom up. It was their fourth date. I was thinking that they'd break up eventually and I didn't have to worry about her marrying him. But the way she looked at him was– _

_I was hiding in my closet all night the day after my mom got married, wondering if, when, why, how– _

_He_ had my entire life wound around _him_, bending for _him_, hiding and hating for _him_. _He_ was everywhere._ He_ would never leave me alone and I would be haunted by him forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ev–

"What's the matter, Suki?" he stepped into the room without any invitation. Mom didn't think it was strange at all. Of course. He owned the house,

_he owns _me

he was her husband, and

_he's cheating on you, mom, hurry up and notice _

he loved both of us.

_he loves us in bed_

Why would he not be allowed to enter?

Nonetheless, she hesitated. This was mother-daughter business. No boys aloud. She told him, though, because the boy in question was her wonderful, loyal, handsome, innocent husband.

"I found these hidden under Sakura's bed while I was cleaning." She held up the birth control pills. Only I noticed the second it took for him to register what was going on. Only he and I knew the bomb my mom had just set off.

He made a properly shocked expression. "Sakura…!" he sounded disapproving, panicked (I had a funny feeling I knew why), and shocked.

Mom seemed pleased to have someone on her side. I took back the feelings that had made me want to cooperate or compromise even a little earlier. There would be none of that, no ma'am.

"Would you mind explaining…?" the Horse asked.

Mom frowned. "I asked but she won't say a thing about it."

_Hear that, Horse? I'm obeying you. I listened to you and I tried to do what you told me to, so please, please, _please_ let me go._

I felt ashamed of myself for thinking it, but I didn't take it back.

The Horse pretended to give it a go. "Sakura," he said in a disgustingly kind voice. "Would you mind telling us when this started?"

My face remained blank. Not a peep escaped my lips.

He "tried" again. "How about you tell us who you're having sex with? Did he pressure you into it?" Mom gasped. She hadn't thought of that.

If the situation weren't so grim I'd laugh. The irony.

He shrugged at my mom in an "I'm-sorry-but-I-tried" way.

She took charge again. "Sakura, please," she said coaxingly. "Tell us what happened. We can help you. We want to help you," yeah, right, "but we can't if you don't talk to us. Please?"

I didn't budge.

"Well," my stomach sunk and my heart beat sky rocketed when the Horse spoke again, "what about that one boy I saw you with on Monday? Naruto, I think it was?" He turned to face my mom. "Remember, I told you that she was standing with him in the hallway with no one else around. Maybe he–"

How dare he bring Naruto into his mess? How dare he try to push his problems onto happy, kind, innocent, goofy Naruto! Rage clenched my lungs along with the fear and I felt ready to lash out.

"No!" I hated the way I sounded. My voice was a shrill, uneven shriek. "Naruto has nothing to do with this! He would never do something like that!" I glared openly at the Horse.

Everything was going wrong because of _him_. It was all his bloody fault. I actually got up to hit him, but my mom pulled me back onto the bed gently but firmly.

"We're not done yet, Sakura. Don't even think about leaving."

Which, of course, I hadn't.

"I think we should have a talk with Naruto and his parents."

"He lives with his Godfather," I said more quietly.

"Oh, really?" mom looked surprised. "What happened to them?"

"I don't know."

"Well, maybe that's why he did it. Maybe he was just lonely."

I gaped at her in disbelief. "Are you serious? You actually believe _him_ over _me_?"

Mom smiled at me apologetically. "It's not that I don't believe you," she said slowly, "it's just that–"

"Just _what_?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes. "Either you believe me or you believe him."

Mom appeared to be lost for words. The Horse was looking at me with open anger and amazement.

_stupid stupid stupid what am I doing he's going to be so mad he'll eat me alive oh dang it I am such an idiot oh my god he'll never leave me alone for the rest of my life I bet he's going to kill me the second mom leaves oh god I want to be alone but I don't want him to get a chance to do anything to me oh my god somebody help me I'm in so much trouble_

After a moment, mom said, "I think we'd better call the school."

"What – no! Why?"

She looked at me straight in the eye. "It's obvious to me that you're not going to hand us over any contact information willingly, Sakura. I know you." She used to. "Personally, I think that's a bad decision because if you want to prove your point, then the best way would be to have a talk with him, get some evidence, right? Also, I am aware that your school had security cameras added before you came to school after someone robbed it."

This was way too extreme. It was ridiculous. A bunch of teens had sex with guys these days, and all their parents did was…I wasn't really sure, actually, but I was (kind of) sure it wasn't like this. This was way over the top. They – no, wait, just mom – was overreacting to something that was more common than chicken pox. It made me furious that my own mother couldn't simply believe me and stop messing everything up.

Sure, it was pretty clear why she was worried, considering when she got pregnant was high early high school. She didn't have a disease (as far as we knew) and I didn't think that I had a disease (as far as I could tell…), plus I'd been taking the pills, so it was all fine and dandy, right?

_As if._

"You're right," the Horse said oh-so-helpfully.

Gaining confidence from his words, mom made a beeline for the phone in the hallway. I followed closely behind, not wanting to be alone with him.

After she'd called and gone downstairs with the Horse to try and relax, I locked and barred my door with my desk chair and a few books piled on top. Once I was sure I could be alone, I curled up under my covers and cried and screamed and beat my pillows up until I was too tired to go on.

By the time I woke up, my dad had arrived. Funnily enough, I'd completely forgotten he'd existed.

"Hey, kiddo!" he said once I decided I was too hungry to stay locked up inside my room.

I stared at him blankly for a second, the fridge door hanging open. Then I tried to smile, failed, and just walked up to give him a hug.

"Hi." My voice was muffled in his shirt.

"You don't seem too happy to see me." He sounded hurt.

I broke apart from him. "No, I am happy." I wasn't sure if that was a lie or not.

He sat down at the table. I followed suit after grabbing a banana.

As I peeled a banana, he observed, "Something's wrong."

_The world is wrong._

I pretended that having a mouthful of banana stuffed in my mouth rendered me unable to speak. Not that it had ever stopped me before.

"Your mom told me about what happened yesterday."

Strange that my dad called mom "your mom" and the Horse called her "Suki". Must've been some sort of male dominance thing or something like that.

I swallowed. "And…?" I tried not to sound as though I was afraid of his reaction.

He looked me in the eye. "To be honest, I'm not happy to hear that you're having sex with some boy. In fact, I'm really, _really_ not happy." His voice darkened as he talked.

"How do you know it's with a _boy_?"

I was so mad at myself I could've given myself a swirly.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, Sakura, tell me what you said." His voice was commanding with dose of scary in it. I recognized him then as the man who'd got me to confess that I had stolen his chocolate back in second grade.

I wasn't in second grade anymore. I was a fully fledged freshman who was being terrorized out of her wits to keep her and her step father's secret, well, secret.

"Nothing. How was your trip?"

"Good." He was still narrowing his eyes at me suspiciously.

We tried to have a discussion. The sentences were short, staccato, to the point. Eventually it fell away. I felt a guilt I hadn't had when I'd spoke to mom. I felt as though I'd betrayed dad. I knew that I hadn't but thinking so didn't change my emotions.

"I'm going back upstairs," I said after dumping my cereal bowl into the dishwasher.

Without waiting for his reply, I walked out and up the stairs.

In my room, I locked the door and went back under my covers. I knew that it wouldn't change anything but I'd rather curl up and mope and wish the weekend away than face anyone I didn't want to – which was just about everyone.

I put my head under the covers and tried not to think of what was bound to happen now – a meeting, a dreaded, dreaded meeting of the principal office variety – and what might happen there. I would get in trouble (it also occurred to me that the school would find out I'd slept through that Monday, but that was the least of my worries), Naruto could get in trouble for something he didn't do, the Horse would just sit there (maybe literally – I wasn't sure if he'd come or not) and laugh at us poor, poor victims of his cruelty, mom would never trust me again and I'd be forever angry at her.

That's when it hit me. Naruto. He'd probably heard already from the school, but he didn't know the whole story. I had to explain to him…something. I couldn't tell him everything, no, but I might be able to at least explain why he was involved.

I grabbed my cell phone off of my desk and rang Ino's number. When the machine picked it up, I remembered that she'd had her phone taken away as punishment. I dialed a different number and waited in anxious silence as the phone rang. Some cruel form of luck that hadn't showed up earlier made Tenten pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tenten, it's me."

"Hi, Sakura. What's up? I thought you'd want to be hanging out with your dad."

"Tenten, I need to get a hold of Naruto."

"Oh, what's this? Are you finally going to make a confession?" I waited patiently for her reply to my question, biting my nails. "Sorry, but I don't have it."

"Does Neji?"

"I think so," she said. "He and Naruto are like best buddies, so probably. I'll ask, hold on."

She put me on hold for about ten minutes. It seemed a bit long just to ask a number, but I waited. Soon I wouldn't have enough nail left for chewing.

"Okay, I've got it." Once she'd given me the number, I thanked her and we said goodbye.

I called Naruto. It was only on the second ring that I thought about how embarrassing this was. I pushed that aside, though – this was serious.

"Hello?"

The second I heard his voice, my voice box froze. I tried and failed to speak.

"Hello?"

Fail.

"This better not be a prank call." He was getting agitated.

Fail.

"I'm hanging up."

The strangeness of talking when you thought that nobody would answer knocked me out of whatever state I'd been in and let me talk. "Naruto, wait!"

"Who's this?"

"Sakura Haruno."

Pause.

"Hello?" I said, afraid _he'd_ hung up. "Are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. How'd you get my number?"

"I called Tenten, and she asked Neji, her boyfriend." After a small moment of silence, I blurted out, "Are you mad?"

"Nah," he said. "I don't mind you having my number."

"Well, there's that, but – wait. Have you found out yet?"

"Found out about what?"

Very quietly, I whispered, "The…um, meeting thing."

"What meeting?" he asked, sounding interested.

It hadn't occurred to me that I'd need to explain that part, too.

"Well…," I bit my lip, released, and made to continue. I had to do this. "My mom..., uh…."

"Go on." His voice was gentle.

I pulled myself together. Focus, Sakura! "My mom found, uh, birth control pills," I said the last three words in a whisper, half-hoping he wouldn't hear, "under my bed when she was cleaning the house yesterday. And she asked me a bunch of questions about who I uh, you know…with, and I wouldn't say anything. I mean, I couldn't–" I stopped myself from saying what I shouldn't and got back with the program. "My step dad came in and he remembered you from Monday – I know I should have thanked you earlier, but I was too embarrassed – anyway, he said that maybe you...did…with me…. So mom, uh, called the school so that she could ask if she could meet with your Godfather and…talk about it…."

I hid my head under the pillow and banged my legs against the mattress. This was mortifying. I remembered the phone and pulled my head out, putting the piece against my ear. Had he said anything?

It was dead silent.

"Hello?" I said, nervously.

"Oh, sorry," he said hastily. "Um…wow."

I agreed silently. It must have been a lot to take in.

"So…your mom thinks that you and me…," he drifted off.

So he was still stuck on that part, huh. Well, I couldn't blame him, not even a little bit. Part of me was still stuck there, too.

"Yeah," I confirmed.

"_Wow_."

Something about his reaction relaxed me a little. Maybe it was the lack of explosives.

"So…," he said, collecting himself, "we're probably going to have a family-to-family meeting on Monday?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…. Hey, does your family think I raped you?"

The word caught me off guard. I'd been trying to avoid having it in my head for a while. I wasn't sure why. Maybe because it was the fact that, in that one word, those four tiny letters, a whole world of meaning was concealed. It was a sad, painful world where I – and who knew how many others? – were tied down, frozen, chained, and forever trapped. It was a world without Red Bull, which supposedly gave wings. The only wings there came in a set with horns and pitch forks.

"I don't know," I answered him slowly, being completely honest. "Maybe. I've told them it wasn't you, but they didn't believe me."

There was another pause, and then, "Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Who did you do it with?"

It was my turn to pause. I said quietly, "I wish I didn't know. I wish it hadn't ever happened."

Naruto was quieted. Maybe he was too stunned to reply.

"Thank you for putting up with me, Naruto. I'm so sorry you had to get involved in this. I won't let you get in trouble, I promise."

"Sakura-chan?" he sounded worried.

"Bye. See you on Monday, Naruto. Have a good weekend. I'm sorry. Um, bye again."

I hung up, feeling a million tons of guilt and resolve pushing my body into a lying position on my bed.

The next thing I knew, dad was sitting at the edge of my bed, looking at me.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Yes."

He laughed. "Sorry about that."

"What time is it?"

"Eight eleven PM."

I shot up. "Oh my god!" I said. "I'm so sorry! I should've spent more time with you, but I was worried about…so I–" I cut myself off. I seemed to be doing that an awful lot lately.

Dad smiled. "I know. I overheard you talking to him."

"You mean you eavesdropped." I tried not to sound angry. I wasn't angry. No, sir…just a little bit.

"Yeah, I eavesdropped."

I sighed. "What did you hear?"

"That you were telling your mother the truth."

I mulled that one over.

"She should have believed you. I should have believed you, but…," he trailed off.

But I was a kid, and no one believed kids over adults.

But I was just caught hiding something, who could say I wasn't hiding anything else?

But the circumstances were just too fishy.

But the grass was green and the sky wasn't.

"I get it, dad," I said tiredly. "I'm just glad someone believes me now."

"That's my girl," he said, reaching out to ruffle my hair.

I flinched involuntarily.

Looking hurt, he withdrew it.

"Sorry," I said. My voice sounded upset even to me.

"No, it's fine." He smiled reassuringly.

"You're going back tomorrow." I regretted sleeping through his visit.

"Yeah," he said a little sadly, and then perked up. "But the night's still young and there's a Wii hanging around the house. We've got a score to settle, kiddo."

For the first time in decades, I grinned. "You're on."

XXX

Having slept the whole day, I was wide awake all night. I didn't catch a wink of sleep, so I was able to say goodbye to dad when he packed up and left for the plane at six am. The Horse gave him a lift to the air port.

Mom had fixed dad some pancakes, and I ate the leftovers. Everything that dad and I hadn't eaten wound up in the toilet along with some coffee, a green apple, bacon, some watermelon, and a handful of broccoli. Just lovely. But that meant that the Horse didn't get any.

I spent the rest of the day reliving Saturday night and dreading tomorrow. I thought about calling Naruto again, just to find some reassurance, but I didn't know what to say. I ended up just texting Tenten about a bunch of irrelevant things.

Around two in the afternoon, Hinata called with her house phone (her dad didn't give her a cell phone in fear that she'd fall in love with a boy through the infamously addicting invention called "texting"). She asked me if it was true that I'd asked Tenten for Naruto's number. When I told her yes, she bid me goodbye hurriedly and hung up. Well, that wasn't weird or anything.

XXX

Monday came. During homeroom, Naruto came up to me. At least I didn't need to worry about being avoided anymore.

He said, "Good morning, Sakura-chan," with a smile I didn't deserve. I knew I was forgiven for dragging him into my mess.

Without thinking about it, I grabbed Naruto – whose face turned beet red – and pulled him into the tightest hug I could. I wanted to cry into his shoulders again, I wanted to tell him what was behind the whole ugly mixture the Horse had blended on high speed more than anyone, I wanted to kiss him – no, wait, back up – I wanted to tell him he was the nicest person in the world. I felt him wrap his arms around me and pat my back awkwardly.

Over his shoulder I saw Ino and Tenten gaping, and Hinata looked away, her face flushed darker than humanly possible. Coming back to my senses (whatever they may be), I let go.

"Sorry," I apologized quickly, "I didn't mean to, I just sort of…." I stopped my mouth before I said something I regretted. "Thank you," I said quietly.

His face was still pink when he laughed. "No, it's fine. I'd be happy to go to a meeting every day if I knew I'd get a hug every time."

I smiled in a tense, false kind of way.

Seriously, the guy was too nice for his own good. I never even knew that people like him existed until he popped (or rather, ducked down) into my life. Wasn't he at least a little angry? Probably. He wasn't showing it, though, which was astounding. He never stopped amazing me.

Classes came and classes went, and my feelings of anxiety and nervousness only got worse. I didn't want to go to that meeting. Not only was it completely embarrassing getting my family matters involved with Naruto but the principal (not that a ton of people knew it was _only_ a 'family' matter), but I had a bad feeling about it. Somehow, attending it felt like I would be confirming to the world – and more importantly, to me – that something wasn't the way it should be and the reason was because I was…_raped_.

I repeated that word in my head. It felt foreign and unfamiliar, as if I had never heard it before.

Lunch passed and suddenly the meeting seemed so much closer than before.

The clock was too slow but too fast. I fought to grasp onto some piece of reality to use as a live vest: Ino's gossip, the cold wood of my desk, Tenten's teasing, the teachers' lectures, Hinata's embarrassment, Naruto's carefree laugh. Despite my efforts, the day was swept away in a current of mixed emotions – none of which were all that positive.

Five minutes before the bell rang to signal the end of the day (here I was wondering if I would be able to escape, but decided not to – I would be abandoning Naruto if I did, and they'd catch me eventually), the office called the two of us to the office, instructing us to pack up for the day and bring everything we needed on our way home. Our classmates "_oohed_" teasingly, pretending they thought we were "bad kids". None of them actually believed anything could be wrong since Sakura Haruno, the model student, was going. I was probably getting an award or something.

As if.

Mom and the Horse were already sitting down side-by-side in one of the principal's loveseats. Jiraiya was sitting across from them in an armchair, leaving one empty loveseat and an empty chair for me to choose from. I sat down in the loveseat, and to my surprise, Naruto joined me.

Trying to seem unconcerned, I fussed with getting my backpack to sit upright on the floor without support.

I had never been to the principal's office for anything remotely bad. I preferred the other times, when the office seemed like a pleasant place to spend the day. The atmosphere now was completely different; you could cut it with a knife like butter.

"Sakura," the principal, Tsunade, addressed me by my first name. "Naruto." She nodded at Naruto.

"Hey, Obaa-chan," Naruto said with a broad grin.

Mom, the Horse, and I all gaped at him in stunned silence. You just didn't call the principal "Obaa-chan". You just didn't. It was like saying you wanted to die.

Oddly enough, Tsunade seemed to accept this. Half of me wanted to try calling her Obaa-chan myself to see if she had the same graceful reaction. The other half was terrified that she'd explode and blow us all up to high Heaven (low, low, _low_ Hell, in the Horse's case).

"I'm sure you know why you're here," she said to me.

I nodded.

"Naruto, I'm sure you don't."

"As a matter of fact," behind our backpacks, I gave his shoe a little tap and shook my head half a centimeter to either side, "no, I don't."

Tsunade nodded. I could tell she just wanted to get this over with. I bet she had to deal with this kind of thing all the time. Worse, maybe she was blamed for them through some unreasonable explanation parents came up with by themselves. All that and they still weren't paid well, I heard.

"Well," she said. "Sakura's mother, Momoiro-san," Momoiro* was the Horse's last name, "says that she discovered a bottle of birth control pills under her daughter's bed on Friday while cleaning. When Sakura wouldn't reveal the person – or people – Sakura had sex with, her husband Momoiro-san thought that Naruto might know a thing or two, and they took it to the school."

We could all tell how unhappy she was about that, even if it supposedly was the school's duty to try and help. Mom seemed to deflate at Tsunade's words, and I felt an insensible feeling of satisfaction. I shook myself. This wasn't her fault, remember. She wasn't the bad guy here.

"Personally, Momoiro-san," Tsunade met eyes with my mom and the Horse in turn, "I don't believe that Naruto has anything to do with the matter at hand, and I know him very well."

It took a moment to digest that last bit.

"Now," Tsunade said, seeming satisfied that mom and the Horse seemed to have taken her words to heart, "let's try to settle this once and for all. Sakura," her eyes met with mine and let me tell you, that's one heck of a scary thing. "I'll ask once and only once. Would you please tell us who you had sex with so that we can all go home?"

I hated this. I wished that someone – preferably a guy – would go parading through the hall in a princess outfit to attract their attention away from me. No guys wearing dresses came, though, and I was still right in the limelight, where I honestly didn't want to be.

I met the Horse's eyes for a split second. Although his face told a story of sincere concern his eyebrows – yes, his eyebrows (People always talked about "reading eyes" but I just didn't have the knack for that, so I settled with their eyebrows.) – told a different story.

I shook my head. Tsunade sighed in obvious disappointment. "Well, then, I guess we'll have to settle this the hard way."

That didn't sound very pleasant, to be honest.

She continued. "It would seem that whoever it is you're having sex with is of importance to you."

She couldn't have been more wrong.

She started asking me a bunch of questions – more harshly than my mother ever would (I could see mom look disapproving, but she wasn't in any place to protest) – which I answered with silence. Growing more and more frustrated, Tsunade told me I was really pissing her off – here, she asked mom and the Horse to excuse her – and that it would be easier on all of us if I'd just spit out who I was having sex with.

Naruto heroically protested, "Obaa-chan, calm down! You're going to scare her!" Of course, she'd succeeded in doing that long before.

To my guardians' shock, she took a huge swig of Sake right in front of them. This seemed to cool her down. "My apologies. I'd lost my temper. Now, where were we?"

From there, the interrogation continued in a much more civil way.

"…please tell us how it first happened," she said. "Who was it with? Where did you first do it?"

I couldn't help it. All throughout the conversation, I'd kept on glancing at the Horse, whose eyes were fixed on me with that creepy false expression. He wasn't there to support me; he was there to remind me what could happen if I spilled the beans.

Jiraiya spoke up for the first time. Also for the first time that evening, my eyes focused on him. My stomach flipped unpleasantly when I saw that he was looking at both me and the Horse in turn.

"Tsunade," he said, "you keep on acting as though she did it by choice. But what if she was pressured into it, or forced upon? What if she's afraid to tell not because she wants to protect whoever participated with her, but because she wants to protect herself?"

_No way._

"When I met her," he continued, "she demonstrated signs of androphobia – fear of men," he explained for the rest of us mortals. "She didn't seem afraid of Naruto, only adult men."

I stared at the desk across from me in deep concentration. I felt too many eyes focusing on me as well as the intentions hidden in the brains behind them.

_Tell us. I'm worried about you, baby._

_Don't you dare say a word, girl._

_Sakura-chan, is that true?_

_I hope she speaks up._

_I want to go home. _

_If you say even one word, I swear…_

_Please, sweetheart, do it for me._

_You can do it, missy._

_Sakura-chan…? It couldn't be. Were you really…?_

_Not _one_ word._

I was crumbling. An unrelenting pressure was pushpushpushing down onto my chest. Everything inside of me was bursting and stinging and disintegrating, until nothing was left of me but a heart that wouldn't stop beating for the entire world. That same heart that was beating so hard right then that I was seriously worried that I might get a heart attack.

I fought down the urge to bury my face in my hands, curl into a tight ball right there and then, and cry my heart out in front of my attentive audience. I wanted to cry the pain away, cry the frustration, the terror, the sadness, the regret; _everything_ right onto Tsunade's fine leather sofa.

I wouldn't. I shouldn't. I couldn't. I wanted to _so_ bad.

"Sakura?" Tsunade's voice had taken on a whole new quality. "Were you raped?"

The Horse stepped in. "I don't think that's the case." He sounded calm to them. I heard it, though; the panic roiling around inside his rotten body. "The bottle of pills was almost empty when we found it. She'd probably been doing it repeatedly for a while."

"That also implies that she might have been raped repeatedly," Jiraiya said quietly.

I turned to look at him. His eyes were on _him_. He'd guessed.

_He's absolutely correct._

"That's absurd." It struck me how weak the Horse seemed now. In my mind, he'd always been strong, unbelievable strong. He was someone no one could even think of winning against. I now saw that he, too, was just human. He, too, was breakable. "I can't even imagine–"

"I think you can imagine a lot more than you give yourself credit for." Jiraiya's voice had a hard coldness I'd never heard before.

My mom stood up defensively. "Now wait just a minute. What are you implying, sir?"

"I think we both know what I'm implying, ma'am."

I looked at Naruto. He was looking at me. I saw in his face that he, too, had guessed. His expression was asking me for confirmation. When he saw the helplessness I was radiating, he took that as an answer. He bowed his head, his spiky blond hair shadowing his eyes. I could see his mouth, though. His teeth were grinding together so hard I was afraid his jaw would break, on top of everything else.

Right there, in front of five other people, I started crying. I didn't bother to hide my tears or conceal my sobs. I let them out, all of it out. My feelings seeped out of the pores in my skin and into the room. They oozed onto the floor and made there way to everyone there. Everyone except, of course, the Horse.

My mom was staring at me in disbelief and pain. It hurt her to see me like this. Tsunade was drinking again. Jiraiya gave a sad, relieved sort of smile, as if seeing me let out my feelings had reassured him. Naruto had wrapped me in a tighttightight hug I couldn't have freed myself from if I had wanted to (which I didn't in the least). I could feel him trembling in anger. I wanted to check to see if he was glaring at _him_, but all I could do right then was hug and cry and get snot all over poor Naruto's shirt.

"Sakura," Tsunade said once she'd come back for air. "Were you raped?"

I nodded without pulling away.

"Who raped you?"

My lips moved. I said something. In that one word, everything was over.

The End… (Kinda)

**AN: **Wow, that was one heck of a long chapter! I know you guys were itching for some violence (Naruto was, too) but I tried to go for something a bit more realistic (not that violence isn't realistic, oh no). **It's not over yet, though.** There's still going to be an epilogue, so please take a look at it! Thanks for reading up until this point, guys. I really appreciate all of your nice reviews and just the fact that you bothered with my fanfiction. Read my AN in the next chapter to hear a few words about my opinion on child abuse and the reason (if y'all haven't guessed already) I gave the Horse his nickname. Please review!

*Momoiro - pink. I thought I'd have some fun with his last name. ;)


	6. Epilogue

**AN:** Thanks for reading up until here! I love you guys! XD _**I hope you guys read the lower AN, because it's on the important side of the matter meter.**_ And the reason I gave the Horse that nickname was because it rhymes with whore, though I think some of you have already guessed. Your comments are seriously appreciated, guys. ^^ To:

**Nerd-With-A-Computer**: heehee I think we all agree about that ;)  
**wind797**: lol you're totally right XD ooh, how about a nuclear bomb? …nah, too fast. He deserves a slow, painful death. That second idea was brilliant XD mwahahahahahahahahah! *ahem* and thanks :D  
**SwitchMagic**: thank you, thank you, thank you X3  
**Fyras14**: lol yay! Glad you're pleased X3  
**OiToTheWorld**: aww thanks :3  
**Emmy loves her Demon Naru**: thank you, thank you veeeeeeeeeeeerrrry much XD  
**Twinitech 2**: aww that's so sweet :) thanks  
**JAYSEN**: yay for Naruto and Jiraiya! XD and thanks :)  
**ChinaCharlotte**: ahhh nooo! I'm too young to be murdered! XD and thanks ;)  
**Hish36**: I'm so glad you think so! Aww, I'm blushing X3  
**Cupcake-sama**: tankies :D  
**mnalfred**: I really appreciate that. Thank you.  
**Demon Naruto 117**: thank you for the advice :) and yeah, I think the Horse disgusts just about everybody lol  
**Lauravillegas97**: lol you're welcome :) and thanks XD  
**Lillyonalillypad**: thank you :) I appreciate your opinion as well  
**nyomixsaga**: aww thanks :D and that's fine XD to be honest, I love violence, so it's nothing to be ashamed of here lol ;) thanks again~  
**Suzuku16**: lol thanks for saying so :)  
**Lais S**: aww that was so nice X3 thank you ^^  
**IssaruWolf**: I second that! :3  
**Cinniminni**: lol yup :3 and ty  
**mrgirmjaw**: thank you^^ I really appreciate you saying that  
**Achalys**: heehee^^ stupid horsy pony XD that made me giggle! Thanks, you have a super duper awesome amazing day, too ;)  
**air maiden**: me, too^^ thank you :D

Nobody Knows

Epilogue

I had almost been late for school because mom was sleeping in. I guessed she wasn't going to work today. The last time I'd seen her, she'd been staring at the road with the same expression she'd been wearing when the police took the Horse into custody. Mom had looked shocked, hurt, confused, and disbelieving. She had wanted it to be a dream; I knew without being told. She wanted it all to be some horrible figment of her imagination that her husband had been repeatedly raping her daughter while she wasn't paying close enough attention.

She knew, though, that it couldn't be a dream. It was easy enough to distinguish. That didn't stop her from wishing. When reality got too hard to handle, that's what a lot of people did: wish. I had wished, too.

Naruto and I met on the way to school. We didn't speak, just quietly walked to school side-by-side. In that silence was more communication than words could ever achieve.

Back then, he'd been angry. He'd yelled. Jiraiya had to hold him back when the police showed up. I wasn't sure why he'd waited until then to make a move, but somewhere deep down I had a feeling that at that time, comforting me had been a bigger priority in his book. I wondered if that would have changed if he'd been sitting next to the Horse rather than me.

The Horse was in jail. He was supposed to stay there until his trial. Mom wouldn't enjoy watching it, but she was supposed to go.

A huge part of me had expected to be punished last night as I'd stared at the cieling in my room. Even though the Horse hadn't been home, even though he was far away at the opposite side of town, my mind couldn't wrap around that fact. I'd sold him out. I was in trouble. I wasn't going to make it out unscathed.

It was strange. When I had lied in bed feeling angry, hurt (physical and emotional), depressed, and hopeless after he'd had his way with me, I'd imagine what would happen if they found out. I would be free, free, free. I would no longer be the silly bird wishing for the safety of a cage, where the big bad cat couldn't get to me. I would feel relieved, safe, whole. I knew I couldn't go back to being the same again right away – I wasn't stupid – but maybe I'd be able to become completely normal after a bit of time.

I realize now that was naive. The fear, the pain, the everything had become a part of me no matter how much I despised it. It wasn't something I could just tear away and leave lying in the streets. I would have to live with it.

I didn't know what I had been expecting when I'd walked into homeroom on Tuesday. A rush of students, maybe, that would surround us and ask what had happened and a bunch of other insensitive questions. Nothing happened. A few people glanced up to see who had entered and either turned away when they saw it wasn't the people they'd wanted to see or smiled and waved if it was.

Their worlds were all still the same. They noticed nothing, knew nothing of what had taken place in the office yesterday afternoon. Of course they didn't. Who would say anything? If I wanted anyone to know, I'd have to be the one to speak up.

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata were all sitting together. As I approached, I heard them discussing what must have happened yesterday (their hypothesis were: we'd won an award, I was being punished for skipping, and a favor the principal wanted of me) and why Naruto and I had turned up at school together. Why, indeed.

I looked at Naruto. He understood and gave me an encouraging smile with a nod. I nodded back, collected myself, and walked towards them.

Nobody knew but me and a few others. It was my job to tell my friends what I'd been hiding for so long.

"Ino, Tenten, Hinata," I said. They looked at me with expressions mixing smugness, brightness, and something indefinable (from Hinata). I took a deep, shaky breath. "I have something I'd like to tell you."

The End, End

**AN:** That's the end, for real. The reason I didn't try to satisfy your (and to some extent, my) violence (which includes killing) and happy-happy interests was because I was trying to give some vague image of reality. I'm sorry if you didn't get what you were looking for out of this fanfiction, and I'm sorry there wasn't an "And They Lived Happily Ever After" at the end, but this is the way I wanted to sneak in peeks.

From what you guys have said in your reviews, it sounds like a lot of you are aware that these type of situations and others similar aren't as uncommon as others believe. It happens, and it does a lot more than you (I hope), me, or anyone else would like. There are even times when no one ever finds out.

If you or someone you know is experiencing anything remotely like this, tell somebody. I know (trust me, _I know_) that there are people who won't help you even after you tell them what's wrong. Sometimes they won't even react properly. (Which is just sad.) I know what that feels like. But you need to keep on trying. Chances are, things won't be changing for the better in a long time if you don't speak up.

Thank you for reading my fanfiction, as well as this. I love y'all!


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